BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/03/2010

Venezuela to export 80,000 barrels of crude per day to Belarus

"We confirm our readiness to support Belarus in the energy sphere and are set to sign an agreement on crude supplies in the coming hours"

Belarus will be able to buy up to 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez told a news conference after meeting with his Belarusian counterpart.

"We confirm our readiness to support Belarus in the energy sphere and are set to sign an agreement on crude supplies in the coming hours," Chavez said.

Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived at Caracas on an official visit earlier on Tuesday, also said that the two leaders have "agreed the terms of oil supplies to the Belarusian market," adding that the oil will be refined at the Belarusian territory and then sold to European countries.

He added that the two states are set to boost oil output by a Belarusian-Venezuelan joint venture, established in 2007 in Venezuela's oil-rich Orinoco region.

Belarus has little hydrocarbon resources and depends on fuel supplies from Russia. Early this year the two ex-Soviet neighbors were involved in a dispute over oil supplies, as Moscow demanded Minsk pay full import duties on crude its refines and transits to Europe, dropping considerable subsidies.

Belarus requested Russia to supply up to 30 million metric tons of oil duty free, saying it would otherwise increase transit fees for Europe-bound oil from $3.90 to $45.

An array of agreements on crude oil deliveries and uninterrupted transits to Europe was signed in late January, under which Minsk will receive 6.3 million metric tons of oil duty-free this year, but the volume could rise later depending on the country's economic performance.

MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti)

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100316/158210001.html


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